Russian Working Class Youth Media Representation: The Discourse Analysis Experience
Abstract
The objective of this research is to investigate the recent discursive turn in working class representation in the Russian media. The means of creation and translation of normative class patterns, stereotypes and political agency within Russian media have been studied using the theoretical framework of critical discourse analysis. The empirical basis of the research is the textual transcripts of the key communicative events marking the working class as a political subject. The qualitative analysis allowed us to distinguish the rhetorical techniques and semiotic resources of working-class representation in the political field: thematic repertoire, format, practices which interlocutors use in addressing each other, language style and naming. It has been established that the forgotten concept of a “working class” was actualized and entrenched in the official political discourse in 2011. It was borrowed from left-wing political forces and re-assembled as one of the means of ruling class positioning in the 2011–2012 electoral cycle. Industrial working class representatives were included in public discourse as a part of the political staging, the consequences of which led to minor social changes. The populist discourse of working-class politicians as a “voice of common people” was constructed to oppose it to the protesting “creative class” threatening the main political force. The short-term political goal of power agents was to represent working-class people and youth especially as a political subject loyal to the existing regime, embedded into the current political system and ready to defend it if necessary. The nostalgic rhetorical technics were primarily used to re-launch “working class project”.
Keywords: working class, working-class youth, discourse analysis, populism, political discourse
References
[1] Gavrilyuk, V. V. (2010). Gopnics as a Youth Culture Phenomenon. Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya, vol. 1, pp. 126–131.
[2] Credit Suisse Research Institute. (2018). Global Wealth Databook. Retrieved on December 20, 2019 https://www.credit-suisse.com/about-us/en/reports-research/global-wealth-report.html.
[3] Crowley, S. (2016). Monotowns and the Political Economy of Industrial Restructuring in Russia. PostSoviet Affairs, vol. 32, issue 5, pp. 397–422.
[4] Fairclough, N. (1995). Critical Discourse Analysis. New York: Longman, p. 265.
[5] Hayward, K. and Yar, M. (2006). The ‘Chav’ Phenomenon: Consumption, Media and the Construction of a New Underclass. Crime, Media, Culture, vol. 2, issue 1, pp. 9–28.
[6] Lockyer, S. (2010). Dynamics of Social Class Contempt in Contemporary British Television Comedy. Social Semiotics, vol. 20, issue 2, pp. 121–138.
[7] Lawler, S. (2005). Disgusted Subjects: The Making of Middle-Class Identities. The Sociological Review, vol. 53, issue 3, pp. 429–446.
[8] Gavrilyuk, T. (Ed.). (2019). New Working Class Youth in Modern Russia: A Collective Monograph. Moscow, FLINTA.
[9] Rochlitz, M. (2017). Violent Pressure on Business and the Size of the Informal Economy: Evidence from Russian Regions. In A. Polese, et al. (Eds.), The Informal Economy in Global Perspective. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, pp.173–193.
[10] Skeggs, B. and Wood, H. (2011). Turning it on is a Class Act: Immediated Object Relations with Relevision. Media, Culture & Society, vol. 33, issue 6, pp. 941–951.
[11] Toshchenko, Z. T. (2018). The Precariat: from Protoclass to a New Class. Moscow: Nauka.
[12] Trubina, E. (2016). Class Differences and Social Mobility amongst College-Educated Young People in Russia. In S. Salmennieni (Ed.), Rethinking Class in Russia. London: Routledge, pp. 203–219.
[13] Van Dijk, T. A. (1993). Principles of Critical Discourse Analysis. Discourse & Society, vol. 4, issue 2, pp. 249–283.
[14] Slavim cheloveka truda. (2019). O proekte. Retrieved on December 22, 2019 http://slavimtrud.ru/oproekte.html